It's gratitude week!

Thank you, Jen, for reminding me that, yes, I have come a long way and have much to celebrate. Had I not gotten so cocky when the pounds were melting away last summer, I'd be happy as a kid in a candy store.

To use a not-so-paleo-friendly metaphor. Heh.

Because if I hadn't gotten so cocky, I'd be BELOW my original goal.

My weight was back up again this morning, 1.5 pounds: the largest weekly gain I've had all year. HOWEVER – I'm down 1.5 pounds for the month of November. After a stay-the-same October, I'll take that loss, thankyouverymuch. And I still have another week to add to that small loss. You know, the week with the biggest food day of the year in it.

Sigh.

Last Thursday, though, when I weighed myself after our trip – which was all restaurant meals, all the time – I was way down. Like less than 10 pounds from goal down.

So I'm struggling with the gratitude thing this morning. Maybe it would help if I made a list.

• Finding a way to eat that works for me has been HUGE!
• I've had little to no pain since April, when I eliminated grains, legumes, dairy and sugar.
• I've had very few cravings for grains, legumes, dairy or sugar.
• Right this second, as I'm typing, I'm watching the. most. amazing. sunrise. Gotta be grateful for Mother Nature. (We won't talk about what a red sky in the morning means.)
  
• I've lost 53 pounds this year. Also HUGE!
• My clothes fit well and are comfortable. (And I'm having lots o'fun adding to my wardrobe.)
• I no longer spend my days in yoga pants and my evenings in pajama pants and t-shirts.
• Bloodwork is normal. YAY!
• I get to eat bacon every damned day, if I want to.

Seriously? Could I have it any better? I THINK NOT. Thank you, Jen, for helping a girl out of the blahs and into an attitude of gratitude. It's difficult to give myself credit for a job well done when the job isn't done yet. But I'm well on my way.

September 20 - In the morning

Sunrise, as I started my walk/run here in Bridgeport this morning. I ended it with a fall
on the sidewalk near my hotel. OUCH! Fortunately the manager had Band-Aids. 

May 13 - Sunrise/Sunset

Traveling all day today, don't know where I'll be for sunset so here you go:
another beautiful sunrise from the Middle of Nowhere!

Much, MUCH better

My husband only checked my blood pressure/heart rate twice yesterday. He seemed satisfied when all the numbers were where he thought they should be.

I worked at the garden center in the morning, then came home to do laundry, mow the front yard and fix dinner. I'd say that's as normal as it gets. I didn't get through the seed inventory. YET.

Jen, we thought about a medication issue, but the only one I take is Lasix and I don't take it every day. The last time I took it was Sunday. And I eat a banana or an orange every day, so my potassium levels are probably good. The blood work appointment is a week from today … we shall see. (Jen just posted a great review of Jen Larsen's [aka Anne of Elastic Waist] new book Stranger Here. Lots of great insights about body image related to weight loss, among other things.)

Gingerzingi thinks I'm pregnant. HAH! What a disaster that would be! I can't even imagine it. But thanks, G, for your congratulations.

You are all so kind and caring and thoughtful. Thanks. Just … thanks.

On tap for today is more of the same. Work in the morning, mow the back yard in the afternoon, more laundry. My husband is fixing dinner tonight (yay for him!).

Have you noticed the dearth of walk reports this week? Yeah, me, too. This may turn out to be the shortest mileage week of the year. We're traveling and visiting family (the triplets are turning FIVE!) all day Saturday, so no opportunity there. Then again, if I can knock out six miles both Friday and Sunday, I'll have a decent week. I'd hoped to step it up a bit during DietBet, but maybe it's best to just keep life as normal as possible.

The sky is so pretty this morning I don't know which direction to point the camera. I picked this one, finally, because it has those beautiful sky-blue-pink clouds my mother always loved. Have a good day, friends. I'm grateful for all of you.

Good morning, good morning, good morning, YEAH!

December 6 - From where you live

Since much of my life is spent at the end of the dining room table
in front of the laptop, this view out the dining room window
is a pretty darned good representation of today's photo prompt.
(Photo taken around 6:45 a.m. EST)

November 16 - The view from your window

Same window, two minutes apart. The sun really doesn't take long to rise.

November 11 - Night

Taken around 6 this morning, as night was turning into day.

October 18 - Made you smile today

Our Appalachian sunrises always make me smile. 

Good morning, sunshine!

It rained overnight (thank you, Mother Nature, for watering the garden and plants for me) and the prediction is for more rain and even flash flooding here in southern West Virginia today.

But we early risers got a glimpse of the sun before it slipped back behind the clouds:

Five minutes after this shot the sky was grey and all I could see was fog.

I've been spot-checking my weight occasionally this month and am delighted and baffled by a four-pound loss. I said I was done with the struggle, and I am. And four pounds in less than a month isn't all that amazing, but for me, well, it is.

I've been having homemade yogurt with a little strawberry jam, sprinkled with chia seeds, for breakfast almost every morning. Lunch is usually something left over from dinner or a PB&J. Dinner is whatever I can make that's fast and relatively healthful. No time for snacking and I don't usually eat anything after dinner. So food has been pretty normal, and the only time I'm hungry is four or five hours after the last time I ate.

Imagine that.

All I've done for intentional activity is work at the garden center. I think I've maybe been to the gym twice, and maybe walked a half dozen times. Most of my exercise has been of the "tote-that-barge, lift-that-bale" variety, except I'm toting wagonloads of plants and lifting 40-pound bales of Pro-Mix.

I actually like this kind of exercise better than going to the gym, but I 'm grateful for those four months of working out intentionally. It would have been much harder to be this active and I would have felt much more helpless.

Before I went to work yesterday afternoon, I spent the morning planting cardboard in part of the garden. I tilled it first (rototilling is quite the workout!), then laid down dozens of flattened boxes. Next I'll throw some compost and/or manure on it and then cover it all with straw, just as I did last fall with the current tomato and herb beds. I just don't have time to plant as much food this year. I know I'll be sorry later in the summer, but – as the young folk say – it is what it is. I'll have tomatoes and edamame and a few peppers (for drying) and some zucchini to eat fresh. The rest of the garden is laying fallow this year.

Which is fine, really. With all the other stuff I've got going on, I don't have time to eat, let alone can or freeze!

So … did you see the sun come up today?

On the other hand …

being awake so early means you get to see some lovely sunrises.